Fittings at Freed

A long-time tradition of the SAB Summer Course is our journey to Freed of London’s New York City headquarters in Long Island City where our Summer Course students can have personalized fittings and learn more about Freed – the official pointe shoe provider for SAB. After a few years of mostly virtual pointe shoe fittings, it was especially exciting to make the trek to Freed in person this year. Our students had the opportunity to have consultations with Freed fitters before trying on a myriad of styles and Makers.

Freed has been making pointe shoes for leading dancers, ballet companies, and schools for decades and their pointe shoes have been worn by legendary ballerinas across the globe. All Freed of London shoes are handmade by individual “Makers,” and as such, every maker has their own unique style with detailed differences in everything from the shoe’s shape and structure to its box hardness and the pliability of its shank. That’s why finding the perfect Maker for one’s individual foot can be a total gamechanger when it comes to pointework – with the right shoe, a dancer will be better placed on pointe, have the proper support and just be able to dance better!

Very rarely will a dancer find the ideal Maker for their foot on their first try, and that’s what makes our summer trip to Freed so fantastic – students have ample time to try on multiple Makers right there in the store while getting expert fitting advice from the Freed fitters. The assortment of Makers available to try at Freed in New York is vast, so by and large the students leave with a much better understanding of their own feet and a few pairs of professionally-fitted Freeds in their dance bags.

Our thanks to our partners at Freed of London USA for working with us to provide this fantastic experience for our Summer Course students!